Rivers dominated the stage, television and publishing, and had enjoyed some of her best and busiest work years of her life recently.

However the feisty New Yorker had very humble beginnings, struggling for years to make it in the tough world of stand-up comedy as a woman.

Fashionista ... Rivers became one of the first critics of what celebrities wore on red carpets. Picture: AP Photo/Lionel CironneauSource:AP

It was a struggle she spoke about candidly, as she did with all topics. Her big break came with the help of talk show giant Johnny Carson.

Rivers’ appearance as a guest in 1965 propelled her into millions of homes and hearts, launching her career and cementing her style of taking the mickey out of celebrities — and herself.

She described Carson as a mentor and close friend, but sadly the pair had a very bitter falling out in the mid-80s when Rivers launched a rival show without telling him.

They never spoke again.

Looking Back at the Legacy of Joan Rivers3:14

WSJ's Christopher Farley takes a look back at Joan Rivers' illustrious career and the legacy she leaves behind. The comedian and television personality died at the age of 81.

September 5th 2014

2 years ago

/video/video.news.com.au/Entertainment/

It was one of the darkest points in her life, she later recalled. Another deep low for Rivers came following the tragic death of her second husband Edgar Rosenberg, who took his own life.

The pair had worked together extensively.

Proving that no topic was too taboo, and illustrating her power for putting herself out there, Rivers occasionally joked about Rosenberg’s death, saying humour was a coping mechanism.

Her comedy was equal parts polarising and edgy, and Rivers was never far from controversy. Her use of the c-word expletive pushed boundaries, while her jokes about the Holocaust offended many.

But Rivers succeeded despite a few controversies and hiccups.

She hosted talk shows, produced as well as starred in reality programming, critiqued red carpet fashions and penned a dozen best-selling books.

Her voice has appeared in animated films, she won Celebrity Apprentice by impressing firebrand businessman Donald Trump and, bizarrely, was a guest at the wedding of Camilla and Prince Charles.

Her successful line of jewellery is a sellout on home shopping networks across the world. And she even voiced GPS directions, allowing drivers to be told where to go by the Queen of Comedy.

Her life was anything but dull.

Following in her very big footsteps, Rivers’ daughter Melissa has also enjoyed a successful career in entertainment and joined her mother in numerous endeavours.

Dynamic duo ... Joan Rivers and her daughter Melissa worked together on numerous occasions over the years. Picture: APSource:AP

Together, the duo hosted red carpet coverage of celebrity events for several years, beginning in the mid-1990s. They were some of the most feared women in Hollywood.

Their popular reality show Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best? brought the two together on the small screen again, chronicling the comic’s relocation to Los Angeles to live with her daughter and grandson Cooper.

Melissa is also the producer of the popular Fashion Police panel show, which features E! Channel star Guiliana Rancic and style maven Kelly Osbourne.

Over her career, Rivers won a Daytime Emmy Award for The Joan Rivers Show, was nominated for a Tony for her part in Broadway production Sally Marr … and her Escorts and came pretty close to winning a Grammy for her 1984 comedy album What Becomes A Semi-Legend Most.

Rivers’ frequent plastic surgery procedures changed the shape and appearance of her face dramatically and became a talking point for the comic herself.

She regularly poked fun of her appearance and even wound up playing herself in a handful of episodes of the drama series Nip/Tuck.

Rivers was often brassy, always upfront but consistently hilarious, whether chasing down wealthy people to ask “How’d you get so rich?” to opining on modern celebrity culture.

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